Can we translate assessments into Spanish for ELL learners?
We often get asked about translating screening assessments to Spanish for students. While FastBridge has created Spanish assessments, they are not approved for use to meet Iowa ELI requirements. You'll still need to use the English assessments, but may choose to also use the Spanish assessments as supplemental information. One thing to be aware of is that the Spanish assessments and their norms were developed using English speaking students enrolled in a Spanish immersion program, not English Language Learners. If you don’t see an assessment listed with a Spanish version available, there isn’t one.
It is also important to note that to translate any of the English assessments to another language (verbal or written) would negate their validity as a screener. Changing or altering the assessments from the original test alters the functionality of the test enough that the established norms and benchmarks should not be used to interpret the test. Translations of a test can significantly alter the meaning and nuance within test items, and there is no way to determine if they are of equivalent difficulty without substantial research and effort to collect appropriate norms from appropriate student populations.
Can we translate just the student directions the assessments into their home language?
It is best to always follow the standard administration procedures, and for FastBridge assessments that includes the instructions written in English. The risk of even translating just directions is the potential for getting the translation wrong. There are nuances to every language, and academic Spanish or Urdu or whatever language you are using is very different from conversational home language. Any variance in the directions due to translation would make the results invalid and the benchmark score unreliable.